21 (www.the-usher.com)

"Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner"

Ben Campbell (Sturgess) was on the verge of finishing college at M.I.T. and dreamed of going to Harvard Medical but it would cost $300,000. His only chance was a scholarship or so he thought, until a spot came up on Prof. Micky Rosa's (Spacey) special group project. After inadvertently standing out in class for the first time, the professor invites Ben to meet Jill (Bosworth), Choi (Yoo), Kianna (Lapira) and Jimmy (Pitts) who are taking part in an extracurricular project that could solve all of his money problems in one fell swoop. That project is counting cards and working the system to make thousands of dollars and Las Vegas is their target.

Winning big in Los Vegas has been the story of many a Hollywood movie but can a true story of mathematics beating the system be a winner?

Based on the best selling book "Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions" by Ben Mezrich, this is the true story that reveals that even the most educated people in the world can still succumb to greed. As with everything, mathematics can be used to understand and therefore take advantage of any system in the world and when it comes to beating the house in Vegas, six M.I.T. students and their professor took the city of sin for millions. A story like this was bound to make Hollywood take notice and for the most part, their gamble paid off.

The story is seen from the point of view of Ben Campbell, a geek who only really had three friends at M.I.T. with whom he spent most of his spare time building a robot to win the yearly robotics competition. Keeping himself under the radar until his final year, Ben had always shone academically but until he argued a point in Prof. Micky Rosa's class, no one really knew he existed. It was this uncharacteristic outburst and with a little bit of research that brought Ben to the attention of the Professor and his five most gifted students who had an astonishing proposition for him.

Using a mathematical technique that is never really clearly explained, a set of signals and phrases that indicate if a table is hot or not and a system that will keep them off the Vegas radar, Prof. Micky Rosa and his six students head there to make a fortune. While this might not be the actual way they did it in real life, the Hollywood version is one hell of a ride.

To bring a story like this to the silver screen you need a good compliment of young actors to play the six M.I.T. students. Leading the line is Jim Sturgess as Ben Campbell, the newest member of the group and the man who is going to change the most, becoming a new person every time he steps of the plane in Vegas. This is a career-making role for the British, jobbing actor and he stands out as a star in the making. Kate Bosworth continues to make interesting career choices as Jill Taylor, proving again that she is an actress to watch and one who loves working with Kevin Spacey. There are also good performances from Aaron Yoo, Liza Lapira, Jacob Pitts as Choi, Kianna and Jimmy Fisher as the rest of the team with each of them having fun in their roles. When you add Lawrence Fishburne and Kevin Spacey into the mix as Vegas security manager Cole Williams and as mastermind Prof. Micky Rosa, you have a certain amount of class coming into the film.

While it maybe a little too Hollywood at times, the movie still has plenty of twists and turns and a whole lot of fun in the city of sin. With a good cast and an interesting story, this is a movie that doesn't quite hit the jackpot but it does produce a few winning elements for you to have a good time.

PICTURE & SOUND

The Blu-Ray disc presents the movie in High Definition wide screen 1:85 up to 1080p, with Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround sound, highlighting the Las Vegas location and the sound of the casinos in which the card counting goes down.

BONUS FEATURES

Filmmakers Commentary
Director Robert Luketic and producers Michael De Luca and Dana Brunetti provide a fun and informative commentary for '21'. The group talk about the true elements of the story, the writing of the script and Kevin Spacey's involvement and enthusiasm for the project. This is an excellent commentary that fans of the film will really enjoy.

Featurettes (37.22 mins/High Definition)
Split into three parts entitled 'The Advantage Player', 'Basic Strategy: A Complete Film Journal' and 'Money Talks: A Tour of the Good Life' with contributions from director Robert Luketic, producers Michael De Luca and Dana Brunetti, author Ben Mezrich, original M.I.T. student Jeff Ma, screenwriter Peter Steinfeld, production designer Missy Stewart, costume Luca Mosa, producer/star Kevin Spacey and stars Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, Aaron Yoo, Liza Lapira, Jacob Pitts and Laurence Fishburne, these three featurettes cover the history of Blackjack, how to play like a pro, explain the maths behind counting cards, as well as writing the script, the characters and the story.

21 Virtual Blackjack
Practice in the classroom for heading to the casino table with this interactive Blackjack game to play on your Blu-Ray player.

BD Live
Log onto the Blu-Ray site to see they latest releases from Sony and what is coming soon.

OVERALL

The Blu-Ray treatment for '21' is one that fans should enjoy. The featurettes cover most aspects for the film's production, the commentary track is also very good and the inclusion of the Virtual Blackjack is a good touch. BD Live still isn't really adding much to the extras features of the films, but the potential is still massive.

BLU-RAY

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2008